TORONTO – After getting a win in his first fight in 17 months, Gunnar Nelson hopes his 2019 has him much more active.

Nelson (17-3-1 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on Saturday submitted Alex Oliveira (19-6-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) with a rear-naked choke in the second round at UFC 231, which took place at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The main card, including Nelson-Oliveira’s welterweight fight, aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

“I feel good,” Nelson told MMAjunkie afterward. “In the fight, the first round didn’t play out as planned, obviously, but some success, and some not-so-great moments. But overall, it was a tough fight. It was a good thing to come back and reminds you what this sport is. It’s a tough, tough fight game and I have some nice things to take back to the gym now.”

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Gunnar Nelson def. Alex Oliveira at UFC 231: Best photos

The ending came after Nelson opened up an utterly brutal cut on Oliveira’s head after a pair of elbows. From there, the choke came not long after.

“I was just thinking, ‘The choke is going to be slippery and nice,'” Nelson said. “I stayed in mount for a while. It had been a tough few minutes before, and I do believe he was a bit tired, as well. He did a lot of work trying to finish me – a lot of punches he was raining, (but) a lot of them were hitting glove. So I knew he had put out a lot of energy.

“… I caught him with the nice elbow that opened him right up – it was a nasty cut, and that’s obviously what finished the fight.”

Nelson has three wins in four fights now and is back in the win column after a knockout loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio in the headliner of the UFC’s visit to Scotland in July 2017. He’s realistic that a title shot at welterweight isn’t likely to be in the cards after one win.

But at the same time?

“If you get a title shot, you don’t say no,” he said. “But I’m just going to keep on climbing like I’ve always been. I’m ready to fight anyone. So right now, I’ll go back home and sort out a few things I want to work on and hopefully 2019 I’ll be a lot more active.”